Decatur Police Deputy Chief Keith Lee was asked by Agnes Scott to forward this message to DM readers…

Agnes Scott College will conduct a crisis management drill on August 2, 2011 fro 8:00 AM to 12:00 PM. This drill will be led by Agnes Scott Police in conjunction with several other municipal and county agencies. There will be no road closures and there should be only minimal impact on the community. Thank you for your cooperation and understanding.

Deputy Lee points out that August 2nd is also the first day of school for Decatur schools “and many of the safe routes to school pass thru or adjacent to Agnes Scott campus. Parents and students should not be alarmed by the presence of many public safety personnel.”

EcoNuke points out that the City Schools of Decatur has posted the bus schedules for the upcoming 2011-2012 school year on its website.

Based on the recently approved bell schedule, all Pre-K, K-3 and Decatur High School bus routes will start at approximately 6:50am and arrive at their destination at 7:30a now.  Fifth Avenue 4/5 Academy and Renfroe routes will begin at 7:45a and end at 8:15a.

Specific routes for each school can be found on CSD’s new Transportation website.

Also according to the CSD website, buses will be doing “dry runs” today. The site reiterates that the CSD “walk radius” around each school is one mile – meaning there’s no bus pickup within a mile of each school – and that bus routes are subject to change based on ridership.  Changes to routes will be posted on the CSD website.

Norwegian flag hung from Artisan balcony, Decatur GA (pic submitted by Andisheh)

We’ve already cut Decatur’s 2010 Census data a couple of ways over the past few months, and had a lengthy discussion about the decline of black households inside the city.  But what about that OTHER most talked about Decatur demographic?

That’s right, I’m talking about families with kids.

A reader points to this great website that very clearly shows the growth in various demographics between the 2000 and 2010 Census, among them households with children.  Here’s the breakdown on households by family-type:

                                                                           2000         2010     % change

• Under 6 years old:                                     399            698          75%
• Under 6 years and 6-17 years:               192            305          59%
• 6-17 years only:                                         530             730          38%
• No children under 18 years:                1,462          1,603         10%
• Male householder only w/kids:              195              216         11%
• Female householder only w/kids:      1,076             984         -9%

Note that this is HOUSEHOLD data and doesn’t take into account the number of children in each household.  However, this might be the first concrete dataset we’ve seen which confirms what many of you have been reporting for years: an impressive/scary/reaffirming increase among the youngest children set.  Just to be clear: the number of households with children under 6 years old is nearly THE SAME as households with kids 6-17 years old.  That’s certainly something to take note of considering that’s a 6 year age span compared to an 11 year age span.

That discrepancy, combined with general increases in all three husband/wife/kid groups gives a very real idea of the enrollment issues City Schools of Decatur having been dealing with and will have to accommodate in the coming years.